Bought a finish mower, belt routing

[fatjay]

I picked up a new to me 3pt 60" finish mower. It's in perfect condition, completely rust free, belt included, but not on. I was hoping someone had some ideas, because my ideas just aren't working. When I install it on my theorized route, the tension pulley pulls the wrong way. The tension and idler pulley are the wide sides of the V belt, the rest are the thin sides.

ALso, when I hook it up the way I think it goes, it has a bit of slack, to much that I can't take it all up.

The deck:

 

[redmaher]

Before you spend a lot of time and hair pulling make sure you have the right sized belt.

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[Dave_eng]

To help me understand your sketch, could you put an X in the three circles which are the blade spindles.

Somehow identify which way the spring is pulling the idler pulley.

If a pulley has a flat surface rather than a Vee we would need to know this as well

My first reaction is that if the big circle is the drive pulley rotated by the gear box, there is not enough wrap of the belt around this pulley in the way you have shown with the red line.

Dave M7040

 

[redmaher]

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[fatjay]

Perfect, think I got it. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Dave_eng]

Great
They are quite the puzzle some time. They have driven me crazy because if you are doing it under a machine you don't even have a good mental image.

Don't think you will remember the next time or that you can find the paper you prepared, use a paint brush and paint a crude line on the mower marking the belt path and also the belt number while you can still read it on the new belt

Dave M7040